My mind seems to be running in the express lane during the day as information flits in and out, over and under, and every other direction at once. There are so many “What ifs? When? How? Where? What am I going to do with (and you can fill in the blank) and other questions to be answered. It’s mind boggling. And while all this is going on, I’m still trying to write and keep some sense of balance. It’s overwhelming and in some sense, scary!
I want desperately to keep being productive, regardless of what is going on around me. In fact, I feel like I must. It’s almost cathartic, yet my mind just unravels when I sit to my computer; and add the emotional aspect, I’m often exhausted!
I was taken by the idea of The Eisenhower Box, or as some call it, The Eisenhower Matrix. It’s a way to take a list of tasks and break them down into four major categories. All the items on your list are broken down relevant to how important, urgency, immediacy and personally.
You're directed to use a large grid and sticky notes. (I happen to totally love Sticky Notes!) The idea is to write a single task on each sticky and place it on the grid. This puts every task in the right spot, making it easy to visualize goals and aids in strategy.
I heard someone liken this idea to the Apostle Paul talking about our Christian walk being like an athlete’s. An athlete has goals, some short range and others far reaching. Along with his goals, he follows a precise strategy to prepare for whatever competition he was conditioning for.
Keeping this perspective, both from a Biblical and athletic view, it helps give credibility to the idea of time management for those of us who have much to do (and who doesn’t?) and seemingly not near enough hours in the day to complete everything on the list.
Avoiding distractions like social media, chatting on the telephone and busy work because we are unable to focus, can be ‘killers’ to productivity. If we can keep our eyes on the ‘prize’ – a job completed and well done, we will accomplish more and in less time.
Still, I find the ‘mental clutter’ of so many questions, crowd out forward movement. Ultimately it’s stress complications and even a step beyond is ‘stress implications! Perhaps I’m not trusting enough on the God of the Universe to handle whatever situation will arise. Maybe I can re-energize if I compartmentalize and reorganize by changing my spiritual approach to my to-do list.
Stress has a way of making you feel like someone has taken a hammer to your body and sometimes even your mind. God’s got a plan and I need to rely on Him to eliminate those items on my to-do list that I can’t do a thing about!
How about you? Do you have a strategy that is efficient but not complicated? I'd love it if you'd share! God gives us a vision, but our minds must be able to process it without an overload of mental clutter!
Photo credit: https://www.bing.com/searchq=pictures%20of%20sticky%20notes&FORM=AFIM02&PC=AFIM
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